Competition is a never-ending race of everyone against everyone else. Everyone is a worker, but everyone is a consumer too. As we wrap up Mortgage Blues for another year 2008 has been chaos to some, but very predictable to others. When we told an investor group to dump Fannie and Freddie we were told our predictions could never happen.

If subprime issues and tainted paper sold around the world didn’t start a global economic war a recent move might do so. Investors in bank debt are threatening to boycott lenders that follow Deutsche Bank in breaking an unwritten rule and failing to exercise a call option on subordinated debt.
In a coordinated action, angry bond investors are writing to bank treasurers and investor relations heads telling them that any failure to exercise a call option will be considered a breach of trust that could cause all the issuer’s debt to be shunned.

One out of every five Americans no owes more on their home than it is worth, according to research involving JPMorgan Chase’s decision to temporarily halt foreclosures. While that certainly is good news for many, it is not good news for investors and banks. “Prime mortgages, especially where there are pay-option ARMs involved, (are) becoming a broader issue,” said Charles Scharf, head of retail financial services at JPMorgan.